Frank Delaney's Re: Joyce
Re: Joyce! On the international literary feast day of Bloomsday 2010, we launched a podcast to commemorate James Joyce's mighty novel, "Ulysses", the action of which took place in 18 hours of June 16, 1904. Every week you'll find a five-minute mini-essay from me designed to take you through the novel that's on every list of the greatest books ever written. And as Ulysses runs to some 375,000 words, and I mean to go through it sentence by sentence if I have to, in order to convey the full brilliance of this novel - and the enjoyment to be had from it - I'll be podcasting for some time to come! It's such an absorbing book, it's got diamond mines of references, it's so compassionate, so tender, so moving, so funny - and most of us never know that, because most of us have long been daunted by it. No need to be afraid any more - that is, if you make a habit of listening to these podcasts.

Stephen thinks of drowning, and his mother's death. Tide and change.

Direct download: re_Joyce_133_Cool_Cool_Water.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

In this bonus episode a few days before Christmas, Frank discusses the final tale of The Dubliners: The Dead.

Direct download: re_Joyce_132A_ReJoyce_for_Christmas.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Stephen, dwelling on insults, thinks of the Decameron - and of his own failures of courage and athleticism.

Direct download: re_Joyce_132_Barking_at_Boccaccio.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Still on the same paragraph, Frank considers Walter Harris's The History and Antiquities of the City of Dublin as a source for Joyce. Moving on, the dog barks, and Stephen imagines himself a stag at bay. Famous pretenders.

Direct download: re_Joyce_131_Whales_and_Gigolos.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 11:03am EDT

A running dog on the beach. Stephen thinks of Lochland raiders, and of ancient Dubliners attacking beached turlehide whales.

Direct download: re_Joyce_130_Torcs_and_Tomahawks.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Just over halfway through Chapter 3, Proteus, we continue last week's passage. Sir Lout the gigant, and a live dog.

Direct download: re_Joyce_129_Teeth_and_Bones.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Stephen ascends from the tide, in both thought and motion, but finds only weeds, rocks, and rats. Louis Veuillot on Gautier, and an Arabian tale of sand and stone that may or may not be off-topic.

Direct download: re_Joyce_128_Sand_and_Stone.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Stephen doesn't want to spend another night at Martello tower; luckily, his soul walks with him. Elsinore.

Direct download: re_Joyce_127_Homeless_with_Hamlet.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

A return from Paris to Sandymount Strand, and the Kish lightship. Depressions in sand and soul, and time passing.

Direct download: re_Joyce_126_Time_and_Tide.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Paris still remembered on the Strand. Kevin Egan used to be a fine figure of a boy. Old bombs, old exiles, and old songs - and we're done with kevin Egan.

Direct download: re_Joyce_125_Bombs_and_Ballads.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 3:47pm EDT

Continuing a paragraph, Kevin Egan in the Paris of Stephen's memory. Victoria and Maud Gonne, Millevoye and Faure. Bathtime. Next paragraph: the bomber smokes, and muses on the jailbreak of James Stephens. 

Direct download: re_Joyce_124_Betrayals_and_Disguises.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Conversations in Paris. Dalcassians, Arthur Griffith, pimander. Stephen as his father's son in Kevin Egan's eyes. A shirt tells a story.

Direct download: re_Joyce_123_Matadors_and_Shepherds.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Stephen still remembers Paris with Kevin Egan and Patrice: gunpowder cigarettes, absinthe, milk, coffee, and postprandials.

Direct download: re_Joyce_122_Fairies_and_Cheese.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 11:17am EDT

The smell of Paris, a sensual meditation, and a bit of French farce. Giacomo Joyce.

Direct download: re_Joyce_121_Lovers_and_Tarts.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 9:49am EDT

Frank takes a look at four more stories from The Dubliners in this poorly-named episode: A Painful Case, Ivy Day in the Committee Room, A Mother, and Grace.

Direct download: re_Joyce_120A_Five_More_Dubliners.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Pained memories, and a song. Sense-memories of Paris.

Direct download: re_Joyce_120_Farls_and_Absinthe.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Columbanus, Fiacre, and Scotus. Stephen's return from Paris, with dirty magazines and a fateful telegram.

Direct download: re_Joyce_119_Sadness_and_Souvenirs.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:55am EDT

Stephen's remembered self, still in Paris, walks like the dispossessed - and murders in his mind. The Linati schema.

Direct download: re_Joyce_118_Shooting_and_Shaking.mp3
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Nostalgia for Paris: medical studies and cheap stew, ticket stubs and alibis.

Direct download: re_Joyce_117_Puce_in_Paris.mp3
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Thinking of Paris and Irish expatriates: Patrice, dynamite, and wild geese. The Michelet view of women, and a little French dialogue.

Direct download: re_Joyce_116_Rabbits_and_Geese.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Stephen is not going to his aunt's house after all. Kevin Egan, and the works of the blasphemous M. Leo Taxil.

Direct download: re_Joyce_115_French_Fun.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Musings on the sand, shells, lost ships, and sewage. A stogged bottle, and Christ imagery on a clothesline.

Direct download: re_Joyce_114_Nets_and_Shells_.mp3
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Stephen imagines his writings lasting an epoch, a mahamanvantara. Then: back to the third-person narrative of grainy sand and squeaking pebbles. 

Direct download: re_Joyce_113_Under_a_Cloud.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Still Chapter 3, on the Sandymount Strand. Stephen reflects on his childhood reading habits, literary ambitions, and private conceits.

Direct download: re_Joyce_112_Epiphany_Time.mp3
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Stephen will never be a saint, for various reasons.

Direct download: re_Joyce_111_Naked_Women.mp3
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Still on Sandymount Strand. "Dan" Occam, the invincible doctor. Imagined bells and twinned principles.

Direct download: Re_Joyce_110_Razors_Nonsense.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 1:00am EDT

Priests move through Stephen's mind, in the sort of passage that got Joyce in trouble. Three bells mark three Eucharists.

Direct download: re_Joyce_109_Menace_and_Echo.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Frank delves into the second five stories of the Dubliners.

Direct download: re_Joyce_108A_More_Dubliners.mp3
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Stephen recalls friends and priests by nickname, and considers Jaochim Abbas, that old heretic.

Direct download: re_Joyce_108_Bald_Heads_and_Lantern_Jaws.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

Stephen ponders his family's fall from grace. Joachim Abbas. Frank unpacks "the rabble."

Direct download: re_Joyce_107_Heretics_and_Houyhnhnms.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

In Stephen's mind (still on Sandymount Strand), his uncle offers him food and drink, of a sorts. Second-hand opera, and a note of warning.

Direct download: re_joyce_106_Whiskey_and_Whistling.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

A special episode celebrates Bloomsday 2012 on June 16. Frank introduces us to the first five stories of Dubliners as a way of "getting into Joyce."

Direct download: re_Joyce_105A_Meeting_Joyce.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

An imagined domestic scene, mock heroism, and Stephen's nuncle. Differing versions of the text, and contradictions. Names unpacked, and a poignant poem. 

Direct download: re_Joyce_105_Irish_Bull.mp3
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In Stephen's mind, his father continues to mock his mother's family, and Stephen visits his uncle's cottage.

Direct download: re_joyce_104_A_Little_Swearing.mp3
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Sandymount Strand. Stephen's thoughts: his father's voice editorializes on his mother's family. To illuminate, Frank calls on the Iliad, and Thersites's rant against Agamemnon.

Direct download: re_Joyce_103_Cost_Accountants_Cornet.mp3
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Chapter 3 continues along Sandymount Strand. Wind and waves, Hamlet, and a god of the sea.

Direct download: re_Joyce_102_Taking_the_Air.mp3
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Stephen on the nature of the trinity, and the fate of heresiarchs. Contransmagnificandjewbangtantiality.

Direct download: re_Joyce_101_Who_is_Arius.mp3
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Still on Sandymount Strand. Stephen ponders his own origins and, for the first time, reflects on his father.

Direct download: re_Joyce_100_Carnival_Knowledge.mp3
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Still on the beach, Stephen muses on Eve, bellybuttons, bucklers, and a good deal of poetry.

Direct download: re_joyce_99_Madam_Im_Adam.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Stephen ascribes a crime to the midwife on the beach. A phonecall to the navel of the world.

Direct download: re_Joyce_98_Something_Binary.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Chapter 3 returns to "normal" narrative for a moment. Women descend to the sea. Swinburne.

Direct download: re_Joyce97_Ladies_and_Liberties.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

In this bonus episode, Frank describes Joyce's reading list, which owed so much to his Catholic education.

Direct download: re_Joyce_96A__Reading-lists.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:03pm EDT

Stephen parses the poetry of his own thoughts, and opens his eyes to see if the the world has persisted. It has.

Direct download: re_joyce_96_Pentameters_and_Prosody.mp3
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Stephen's thoughts echo his steps as he walks on shells. Frank digresses on Proust.

Direct download: re_Joyce_95_Walking_on_Proust.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Stephen walks blindly in borrowed boots and trousers. Los demiurgos and William Blake.

Direct download: re_joyce_94_Walking_into_Eternity.mp3
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Stephen closes his eyes and walks in the audible world. Nacheinander and Nebeneinander.

Direct download: re_Joyce_93_Time_and_Space.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

More thoughts on Aristotle, by way of Berkeley, Johnson, and Boswell.

Direct download: re_Joyce_92_Another_Maestro.mp3
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Slightly deeper into chapter 3. Diaphanous reality, and a quick lesson on Aristotle.

Direct download: re_Joyce_91_Seeing_Through.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:18am EDT

The beginning of chapter 3, Proteus. Stephen's stream of consciousness takes over as he walks along the beach.

Direct download: re_Joyce_90_Time_for_a_Change.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

End of Chapter 2: Nestor. A brief summary.

Direct download: re_Joyce_89_Bye_bye_Nestor.mp3
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Stephen finally pries himself away from Mr. Deasy, and a recurring theme is introduced. 

Direct download: re_Joyce_88_Befriending_Bullocks.mp3
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Mr. Deasy's litany of women who ruined things for everybody. 

Direct download: re_Joyce_87_Women_and_Slogans.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Joyce the symbolist. History may or may not be moving towards God.

Direct download: re_Joyce_86_Historys_Nightmare.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Stephen reflects vividly upon Mr. Deasy's rant.

Direct download: re_Joyce_85_Golden_Geese.mp3
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Frank unfolds Joyce's daily life in Zurich, which he in many ways abandoned to live in the Dublin of his Ulysses.

Direct download: re_Joyce_84A_Joyce_Enjoying_Joyce.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Mr. Deasy expounds upon the Jews.

Direct download: re_Joyce_84_Light_and_Dark.mp3
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Mr. Deasy, in addition to his other qualities, is a paranoid and a bigot.

Direct download: re_Joyce_83_Braggadocio_and_Bigotry.mp3
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A letter to the editor, deconstructed.

Direct download: re_Joyce_82_Foot_and_Mouth_and_Modernism.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00am EDT